Naruto's Companion
by Talkingbirdguy
Summary: Jazeda, or at least that's what he's decided to call himself, has woken up to find himself no longer in his own world. Faced with the fact that he technically should be dead, he decides that he will grow up in Konoha and give Naruto what he never got to have while growing up in the anime. A friend. (Summary makes this seem so sappy, I'm sorry about that.) Self-insert. Please review
1. Anime is life, Literally!

Naruto's companion chap 1

Okay, so this is my first Naruto fanfic. Chapters are most likely going to be in the 2500-3000 word range until things begin to pick up. Forgive me when my story conflicts with the Canon timeline, I'll try my best to keep things in the proper order. And I make no promises that I will continue this. I will try, but my other, more successful fanfics take priority until (if this does) gain prestige.

Also, I got inspiration to write this from Silver Queen's "Dreaming of Sunshine." If you want a high quality Naruto fanfic, just read that. It's one of the best that I've read on this site, so far.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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><p>Anime is life, literally!<p>

Chapter 1

It was quite strange. I heard everything around me. I could hear the sounds of leaves falling from the trees. Wind whistling through the branches. I could smell the dirt underneath me and the clean air that flowed around me. I could feel the grass underneath my fingers and coolness of the shadows I laid in.

While all of this wasn't that impressive or even that much of a big deal, it was a pretty big deal to me. Why?

Because I should have been dead. That's why.

The last thing I remembered was walking down the sidewalk, heading home from my college class. (I only had to go to that class once a week due to it being a Dual Enrollment course that I had decided to take while still in high school. But none of this is really important.)

Since the local college that I took the class at was not too far from home, I decided to just walk to it instead of drive. It saved on gas money.

Well I was walking down the sidewalk rather quickly (I was in a hurry to get home and watch the newest episode of the anime I was currently hooked on) when I heard the awful whine of metal getting ripped apart and turned at the last moment to see the car come flying at me.

The image of the car was burned into my eyes in that instant. Literally and figuratively. The car's engine had overheated or something and there were flames spiraling out from under the hood. So I not only died by getting hit at a car going about sixty miles per hour and slamming into me, but I got hit by a FLAMING car going sixty miles per hour, roughly.

All in all, a pretty impressive death if I say so myself.

And now back to the forest, for that is where I found I was when I opened my eyes. I looked around and decided that I was in neither Heaven nor Hell. There was not enough, I don't know, "holiness" to be Heaven. And there was a distinct lack of fire and pain. So that put Hell out of the picture. Me, being a semi-devout Christian, decided that this had to be something else entirely. (Purgatory maybe?)

I started to sit up, to look around, when I noticed something very, very, strange.

My feet, which were clad in small sandals, appeared to be much closer to my body that I remembered them being...

A moment is all it took for me to look at the rest of me to determine what had become of me.

I had grown younger! I guessed I was about five years old. Or at least the body I was in was about five years old. My mind still had all its memories of my... past life? I had died. That much, I was sure of. Well, I was pretty sure I had died. It was entirely possible that I had somehow survived and was in a coma, laying in some hospital.

I thought for a moment, and decided that it was in my best interest to treat this, whatever "this" was, as real life. After making that decision, I made my way to my feet. I was a bit wobbly, not being used to the ground being so close, and hesitantly took my first step.

My second step, unfortunately, was interrupted when a figure landed lightly in front of me without a sound to announce his/her approach.

Me, being already unsteady on my feet, couldn't help but fall down with surprise when the figure appeared.

And, in addition to my new body, apparently it had the reactions of a young child. Meaning, that when I fell back and felt the mild sting from hitting the ground, I couldn't stop the tears from forming in my eyes. My body's childish reactions and reasoning (or lack thereof) overrode my more grown up mind in this instance.

The figure, who I could see was wearing some sort of mask through the blur of my tears, held a gloved hand out and said something in a weird tongue. I saw that the figure was wearing all black and was wearing long pants and a ling sleeve shirt, despite the warm weather I felt.

At first, it was intelligible, then it became crystal clear. Like she, for the person behind the mask was a female, had been speaking English the whole time.

"-worry little one. I am not going to hurt you."

Her words, along with her reassuring tone, calmed me down and allowed me to think properly.

I saw she was wearing a mask with an owls face drawn on it. The oval mask covered her face completely, not revealing an inch of her face underneath. I could only make our her eyes, which were a pale green color.

"How did you get way out here? Are you lost?"

I gave her a blank look. Lost? Did that mean there was civilization nearby? And why did that mask look weirdly familiar.

I thought I heard her sigh, then she stood up and held out a hand.

"Come on up. I guess I'll take you to the village. We can see if we can find your mama."

I didn't begrudge her for talking to me like a child, but I seriously wished that I was at least a few years older. I hated baby-talk and childish talk with a passion.

I accepted her hand and she pulled me up with a strange ease. I felt her grip under the gloves and determined that she was no stranger to hard work.

Before I knew it, she had pulled me up into her arms so I was pushed against her shoulder and she began walking while holding me securely.

"Now I'm going to start going really fast. So hold on tight, okay?"

I nodded and wondered what she meant by going fast.

The answer was answered when our surrounding suddenly became a blur and I only felt the occasional, "thump", to indicate what she was doing.

She was tree hopping! Something that shouldn't have been possible!

As I processed this, I remembered one of my favorite anime that was all about tree hopping. In fact, I remembered a certain high level group that wore masks all the time and who lived in a certain village...

No. It was too far fetched for me to even consider it.

But... given the clues, I had to accept that I was somewhere that people could do things normal humans usually couldn't. It only took about fifteen minutes before I felt our speed slow down and she said, "we're almost there. I'm going to ask that you please close your eyes and keep them closed until I ask you to open them again."

I nodded and closed my eyes. Hey, why not? If she wanted to harm me, she could easily. And I didn't want to do anything to make her angry at me. So I waited for awhile until she said, "okay, you can look now."

I opened my eyes and was shocked at the sight that met my eyes.

I saw a gigantic village below me from our perch on the top of some tall building. A slight turn of my head gave me the final clue I needed.

The faces of the past Hokage. I saw them carved out of the stone, clear as day. I could no longer think of any other viable excuses.

I was in the Naruto Universe. In Konohagakure, or Konoha. I was in a real life freaking ANIME!

While most would be ecstatic at this revelation, me? I was trying my best to not vomit from all the memories I had of the show. Orochimaru attacking the village during the Chunin exams. Pien attacking and destroying the village. Itachi slaughtering the entire Uchiha clan under orders from the government.

While I did not have an encyclopedic memory of Naruto (the anime, not the person), I did remember almost everything about the show that I watched. I was a major Otaku in my past life and Naruto was one of my favorite anime to watch.

Well, thanks to this memory, I knew that the building she approached (via the roofs of buildings) was the place the Hokage's office was.

She walked quickly through the halls, holding my hand as she let me walk instead of her carrying me. Like a child, I opened looked at everything with a wide-eyed look that struggled to take in everything around me.

I saw, when we went past a mirror, that I had medium length raven-black hair and amber colored eyes. I was a little surprised. My old body had brown hair and bright blue eyes. But I got over the changes quickly. I was never really worried about my looks, and I certainly wasn't worried about them now.

She continued to walk quickly and I had to move at a near jog to keep up with her pace. We finally stopped outside a door and she knocked. After a moment, a, "enter", was heard.

She opened the door and pulled me in behind her.

"Hokage-sama. I found something in the forest outside the you might want to see."

As she pulled me in, I saw that the room seemed to be about the same as it showed in the show. I saw an old man wearing a hat sitting behind a desk (which was decorated with a small mountain of scrolls that I assumed was paperwork), who's name sprung out of my brain with little hesitation.

Hiruzen Sarutobi. The third Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaf. He looked like he would be right in playing with some grandchildren because he just had that "Grandfather" look to him. But I knew, despite his appearance, that he was a powerful leader that commanded an entire village that was filled with very powerful ninja who all respected him and followed him without question. (At least most did.)

"Now, who is this?", He asked as he leaned forward with a kind expression on his face. It was one of those expressions you held specifically for children to let them know that they were not in any danger, or trouble.

"I found him laying in the forest. I sensed no others anywhere close by and I saw no indication that he had come from the village. What do you want me to do with him?", the ANBU woman spoke in a tone quite unlike the one she had been using before. More official.

The Hokage sat back in his chair with a thoughtful look and said, "we have had no reports of children going missing. So I'm going to assume he is not from here."

I had the sudden fear that they would simply kick me out of the village. Or worse, send me to another. I knew that Konoha was one of the best, if not the best, hidden village in the Narutoverse and I didn't want to be forced to living anywhere less familiar. At least I had a little knowledge of this place, however unreliable as it may be.

As he was about to speak, another knock came from the door and it opened before the Hokage could grant entry.

I saw a ninja that I didn't recognize, (a chunin, I guessed due to the jacket he wore), barged in while dragging along a little kid that was instantly recognizable.

"Hokage-sama! He's gone and done it again!", the chunin said angrily as he forced the young boy forward, closer to the desk.

Due to his, less than gentle push, the boy stumbled and I saw that he was about to fall.

Reacting purely out of instinct, I moved forward a step and put my arm out across his chest so he could right himself before he fell.

Naruto looked at me sheepishly and said, "thanks for that."

I smiled at him and said, "it's no problem." I was surprised when he looked a little uncertain at my smile and gave a small smile in return.

As this was happening, the chunin was explaining how Naruto's most recent prank had been the final straw for the orphanage. They had kicked him out.

As me and Naruto began to pay more attention to the conversation, I noticed that the Hokage was paying attention to how I kept Naruto from falling and how I interacted with him.

"So what do you want done with him?", the chunin asked Hiruzen and I saw a thoughtful look in his eye.

He made a hand gesture and another ANBU member appeared in front of his desk without a word.

"Go and purchase an apartment big enough for two people to live in."

The ANBU member bowed a little lower before disappearing in a poof of chakra smoke.

He then leaned forward and looked at me.

"What is your name?"

I thought for a moment and decided that, since I would be living a new life, I would have a new name.

"Jazeda," I answered and he nodded. I decided, since my past life's name had started with the letter J, my new name would start with J. It was easy to remember, so I decided it would be my new name.

The Hokage nodded and said, "Jazeda. How would you like to live with Naruto?"

I was surprised, and Naruto seemed to be equally surprised and hopeful.

I thought about it, and said with childish enthusiasm, "Sure!"

Naruto smiled widely, his whisker birth marks made obvious by the skin stretching with the expression of happiness.

"But Hokage-sama! What about his punishment?", the chunin protested.

The Hokage leaned back and said, "hmm. I suppose you do need to be punished for pranking."

His eyes lit up with an idea and he smiled as he said, "Jazeda. I need your help to make sure Naruto goes to school every day. That will be his punishment. Can I count on you to make sure he carries out his punishment?"

I put on a serious face (that probably looked stupid on my young face) and nodded, "yes, Hokage-San. I will do my best to do this."

Hiruzen nodded and the ANBU member who had left a few minutes earlier to purchase an apartment reappeared and said, "it has been done."

Hiruzen nodded and said, "good. Now lead Naruto and Jazeda there and report back to me."

He nodded and moved towards the door with us in tow.

Before we exited, Hiruzen said, "oh, and I suppose you will be enrolled into the Academy alongside Naruto, Jazeda. Do you wish to do that?"

I nodded with a smile and he said, "then everything you will need will be delivered to you in the morning."

While I nodded in response, I pulled Naruto (who was sticking his tongue out at the chunin who had drug him there) out of the room before he got himself in more trouble.

I knew then and there that taking care of Naruto was probably going to be the hardest part about living in the Narutoverse. Oh joy.

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><p>Okay. I'll come clean. I'm committing a writer's worst sin. Yes. A self-insert *gasp*. I always felt a little sorry for Naruto in his childhood and I wanted to write something where Naruto has at least ONE stable friend. The character is based off how I would react (and how I think I would react) to whatever happens. And I apologize if the name Jazeda, sucks. I'm really bad with names and I finally just said, "screw it!" And went with that. Also, no, this story is not going to have Jazeda be totally OP and be a Mary Sue. Don't worry about that.<p>

And yeah, please review and tell me what you think. What do I need to improve on, and anything else that you think I should know.

Talkingbirdguy, out.


	2. Live, train, repeat

Naruto's Companion chap 2

Okay. So a little confession about the first chapter It only took me an hour of fanatical writing to create that and about ten minutes to check for problems. This was one of those, "hey! I have a great idea! Better write it up quickly", situations. Paired with the fact that it was about 11:30 PM when I finished it, my conclusion is that I'm probably going to have to go back and fix all the mistakes in chapter one. Bleh. That's going to be about as fun as those D ranked missions.

But enough of that. I do not own Naruto. Yada yada yada. Enjoy the story.

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><p>Live, train, repeat<p>

Chapter 2

Naruto's new apartment matched the anime to a T. Aside from some space being regulated to another small bed, presumably for me, everything was about the same as the anime had portrayed it to be.

After the ANBU member escorted us to the apartment, I saw him disappear before my eyes. I couldn't wait to learn how to control and use chakra. But that would have to wait, because it was getting rather late. So after making good use of some instant Ramen that was "conveniently" in the pantry, we went to bed.

For a little while after I had turned off the light, I heard Naruto whisper, "Jazeda? Are you awake?"

"Yeah. Anything wrong?"

He hesitated and said, "I just wanted to say, thanks."

I smiled, and said, "it's no problem, Naruto. Now let's get some sleep."

I waited for a response, and only the sound of soft breathing reached my ears.

I laid there for a good while, not feeling even remotely tired. I was too busy remembering our walk to the apartment. As we walked, I saw what I expected to see, but was in no way ready to see.

Pure contempt. Hatred. Derision. All aimed at a little blond boy who's only crime was to have a demon in his body. The show does nothing to tell you how Naruto must've really felt. Even though I knew we were safe with the ANBU member with us, all the sheer negativity made me want to both lash out and curl up in a ball at the same time.

The moment I discovered this, I immediately vowed to myself to be the bright light in Naruto's dark life. I would treat him like a brother. I actually had a younger brother, in my past life. So I knew how to treat little kids. I knew how they felt and how to make them feel better.

After renewing that vow, I closed my eyes and forced myself into slumber.

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><p>*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*<p>

I groaned and slapped the top of accursed alarm clock until it fell silent. A different more amazing universe this may be, but alarm clocks are still the bane of my morning life. I then sat up and said to the still slumbering form across the room, "c'mon Naruto. We don't want to be late for the first day of the Academy."

I wiped my grimy eyes and grinned when I saw Naruto put his pillow over his head and grumbled, "but it's not the first day of school."

I laughed, got up and said, "alright. You can have a few more minutes of sleep. I'll go prepare some Ramen for us."

I expected no response and got none as he was already back asleep. I stretched a little as I walked out of our bedroom and was surprised to see a small stack of books with a note laying on top.

I picked it up and started to sweat when I discovered that it was not written in English. But, like in the forest with the female ANBU speaking, the words began to make sense even as I looked at them.

"Jazeda. Here are all the books and supplies you will need for the Academy. I have informed the instructors that they will be having a new student. So do not worry about having any trouble starting out. Come and request for me if there are any difficulties. I have two requests for you. Please watch out for Naruto. And please destroy this note before he can read it.

Hokage."

I smiled and quietly tore the note to shreds before disposing of the evidence and preparing the promised Ramen. Once it was made, I called for Naruto and he made it way to the table and began eating, all without even opening his eyes.

He was done before me, due to my difficulty in using chopsticks, and sat at the table awkwardly until I said, "is something wrong, Naruto?"

He flinched and said in a small voice, "thank you for making the Ramen," he bowed his head towards me and I was surprised by the completely sincere thanks.

I smiled and said, "you're welcome. Now you should probably be getting ready. I'll be done in a minute."

He looked up, and after a moment, smiled back at me.

He got ready and I rushed to do the same before grabbing my supplies and exiting the apartment.

It was still pretty early, so I yawned before asking, "so which way is the Academy?"

Naruto seemed surprised, like he expected me to already know, but didn't comment on it and instead began to guide me.

As we walked, I asked questions to try to get him to act a little less shy. I understood that he was trying to be careful and not push me away, but I was trying my best to tell him that I was going exactly nowhere anytime soon without actually saying it.

By the time we had gotten to the Academy, Naruto was a little more open and more joyful than he had been when we had left. He was openly smiling and laughing rather than shy and withdrawn. I prayed I could keep him like that.

We arrived at the Academy surprisingly early, and were the first students to enter the room.

"Ah, so you must be Jazeda," a teacher- No. A sensei, said as we entered. I blinked and had to resist smiling when I saw the scar on the guy's face.

"I'm Iruka Umino. And I see you are taking Naruto's punishment seriously if you're this early every day."

Naruto pouted and Iruka messed with the blondes' hair to show he was only joking.

"Please go take your seat, Naruto," Iruka asked him, and he did so.

Iruka then turned to me and said, "I'm just going to introduce you to the class, then you can pick where to sit after that. Okay?"

"Okay, Sensei."

Iruka smiled and, as we waited for the others to arrive to the classroom, he caught me back up on the stuff I had missed up to that point. It was mostly just stuff about the fundamentals of chakra and how it interacted with the body. I absorbed the information as I saw each new person enter the room.

I saw Hinata come in and promptly look down at the floor when we met eyes. I saw her grey pupiless eyes for a second before she looked down and took her seat. That's how I knew it was Hinata for certain instead of a random very pale girl. Shino came in a little while after her. He had on his glasses and high collared jacket that hid most of his face. Choji and Shikamaru arrived at the same time. Choji was happily munching on his chips and gave me a small wave, which I returned. Shikamaru slumped his way to his seat and promptly fell asleep upon sitting down.

Kiba was, by far, the loudest arrival. He came in with a white puppy I recognized as Akamaru relaxing on his head. He came in, proceeded to have a small shouting match with Naruto about something that I don't even remember, then took his seat with a grumble after Iruka sensei told him to.

Ino and Sakura arrived at the same time and rushed to sit in two seats that had a single seat open between them. It didn't take much for me to guess who would probably be sitting in between the two.

And speak of the devil. Sasuke walked in last with a smile on his face. He nodded to me and I smiled and nodded back. About seven or eight more students walked in. None of them familiar to me. Since the regular enrolling age was around eight years old, I assumed that these extra students were simply here for regular education. Like a person would get at the civilian school. I remembered that young children couldn't consciously use chakra until a certain age and we probably wouldn't learn how to utilize its power for at least a few years. A pity.

When everyone was seated, and Iruka managed to get everyone to quiet down, he said, "everyone. This is Jazeda. He will be joining our class from now on. I fully expect you to help him if he needs help, and to welcome him to the class with open arms."

After a moment of silence, Iruka sighed and said, "okay, Jazeda. Pick a seat out and I'll begin the lesson."

I immediately walked to the back of the room, where Naruto was sitting, and sat down in the middle of Shikamaru and Naruto. Naruto was to my left, and Shikamaru was to my right (still asleep).

Everyone had different reactions to this. Most of them gave me a worried look. Iruka couldn't suppress a look of surprise for a moment. Naruto was smiling at me. Shino pushed his glasses up his face a little, and it felt as though he was studying me. And Shikamaru was still sleeping...

After a moment of silence, Iruka said, "alright! Now everyone get out some pencil and paper and turn to page-".

Then we started to learn basic math. Then science. Language. Iruka taught us all the basic parts of school. It was actually pretty boring and I envied Shikamaru as he slept on.

The only reason I paid attention was so I could be certain that whatever allowed me to read and understand the language they wrote in extended to math and the other subjects. Once I was assured of this, I decided to take advantage of my superior intelligence and simply go to sleep.

At one point, Naruto shook me awake with a worried expression and I looked up to see Iruka sensei standing in front of me with an annoyed frown.

"Jazeda. Would you care to tell me the answer to the problem on the board?"

I leaned sideways to get a clear view of the board, easily solved the problem, then said, "seventeen, sensei."

Iruka grinned and said, "correct. I see that we have another Shikamaru here. Just make sure to not slack off as much as him," he stared pointedly at the still sleeping Nara and I nodded.

He rolled his eyes and glanced at a clock nearby.

"Okay class. I think it's about time for lunch break. You have half an hour to eat and socialise before I call you back in here."

Kiba cheered loudly along with some other students and rushed out of the classroom with Akamaru hanging on his head for dear life. I took a moment to shake Shikamaru's shoulder before following Naruto outside and sitting under a shady tree to enjoy the sandwiches we had made earlier.

Naruto scarfed his down and laid down in the sun to enjoy the warmth. I ate at a slower pace and took the time to look at everybody I recognized. It was odd, seeing them so small, when I knew they would get strong in a long time.

"Psst!" I jump as a voice whispers to me from the side of the tree that Naruto wasn't sunbathing on.

I glanced around the tree and saw one of the students I didn't recognize standing there, looking at Naruto with a sneer before looking back at me with a pleasant expression on his face.

"Since you're new around here, I think you should know something. No one is friends with Naruto. Our parents tell us to stay away from him. No one will want to be your friend if you hang around with him."

I swallow the bite I had taken and said, "if no one is his friend, then I'll be his first friend. I don't care what others say."

The unnamed student gaped at me for a moment, before snorting and saying, "whatever. Don't tell me I didn't tell you."

I smiled and said, "don't worry. I won't."

He shook his head and walked back to his group of friends, who stared at me with a range of looks.

I went back to my food, ignoring them. I noticed Naruto quickly close an eye when I turned back to my sandwich and I said, "I stand by what I said."

He smiled and his whole body seemed to relax.

Once lunch was over, we went back to the classroom and Iruka sensei taught us for a little while longer until it was time for taijutsu training. Aka, Physical Education.

Another instructor, whom I recognized, had us run laps around a track for awhile. Some kids, like Kiba and Sasuke, bolted immediately and got far ahead of everyone else. Naruto and a few others, including me, started out at a semi-quick pace that was easy to keep up and soon began to come even with the sprinters, who began to lag as their energy ran out. I learned that my body was around Naruto's level of fitness, and managed to keep up with him pretty easily.

Mizuki, for that is who it was, waited until Naruto got close to the sprinters before calling us to another exercise. I was annoyed at this action, but held my tongue due to Naruto not making a fuss over it. We trained our bodies a little more before heading back into the classroom. We were taught for a few hours more before being released for the day.

As me and Naruto left, I challenged Naruto to a race to see who could get to our apartment first. I did this for two reasons. One, to provide a bit of childish excitement to him. Two, to use said childish excitement to distract him from the glares of adults and other people.

I lost the race, but succeeded in my attempt to distract him. It was so worth it to see Naruto smiling hard enough that his whisker birthmarks stood out in stark contrast with the rest of his face. His arms were behind his head and rose and fell with his hard breathing.

"Haha! Good try! But you're gonna have to try harder before you can beat the future Hokage!"

I caught my breath and said, "oh? So you're shooting to become the Hokage? That's an ambitious goal."

He smiled harder (if it was possible), and nodded with a, "yup! I'm gonna be the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen! Believe it!"

I smiled as I heard his little catch phrase and said, "oh I believe it. But there's only one problem with that."

His smile was replaced with a confused look and his arms fell to his side.

"What? What's the problem?"

I smiled and said, "you're gonna have to become more awesome than me if you ever want a chance of becoming Hokage."

Naruto smiled and said, "challenge accepted, Niichan."

"Well come on then, Otouto. Let's go train!"

LINE BREAK

From that point on, Naruto considered me his brother in all but blood. I felt the same. Despite his sometimes irritating quirks, he grew on you and you couldn't help but feel something like brotherly affection towards him. Problem is, I was one of the very few who actually gave enough time to grow closer to him. The only ones I knew of aside were the Hokage, Iruka sensei, and myself. There may have been a few others, but I never saw any. And we spent almost all our time together.

We trained every day after school ended until we were both aching. We didn't just work our bodies. I made sure to have Naruto work his brain out as much as his body. Even though he couldn't go into the library, being "that child", I could. And I would borrow books and bring them home for us to read and learn from. While he was still dead last, he was only a little ways behind Shikamaru and myself. (We both only did enough to pass. A detail that constantly caused Iruka sensei to shake his head in exasperation.)

And all those unnamed kids? They soon went to the civilian school after deciding that a Shinobi's life wasn't for them. Only the Rookie Nine, a few others, and me, were left.

I worked extra hard to undo all the wrong things that Mizuki and the other biased instructors taught Naruto in order for him to have a fair chance of passing. We began learning the basics of chakra usage when Naruto was eight. I discovered that I had a slightly larger than normal reserve of chakra than most. While this meant I had more chakra to work with, it also meant I had pretty bad control over it as well. Not as bad as Naruto, thankfully. But still pretty bad. I'm glad Naruto didn't question me when I began teaching him different stuff then our "beloved sensei", and instead absorbed the information eagerly.

Thankfully, I never realized that my body unconsciously pumped chakra into my system when I started doing strenuous exercise. If I did, then I might've tried to regulate the flow, and would have fallen behind the rest of my classmates. As it was, I was a pretty good ways above the cut needed to be considered "fit" enough.

It was when Naruto was nine that Itachi killed everyone in the Uchiha clan, save Sasuke. It was a bad time for the village. I made sure to have Naruto stop his pranking, (yes, he was still a legendary prankster that caused many headaches for the village and myself), to make sure nobody took out their grief out on the near clueless blonde and hurt him.

Sasuke did not come to school for a few weeks. And when he did come back, he had a harder look about him. His eyes were always angry. I could see only desire behind his eyes. Desire for the power to kill his brother. He became almost insane while training in taijutsu and there was more than one time where a student had to be taken to the infirmary for a minor fracture or worse. Anti-social would have been a kind way to describe his emotions.

Obsessed would have been more accurate.

He didn't even give any of the girls who fawned over him any attention and instead brooded 24/7. Naruto, being the kind person he was, tried to make him feel better and become friends with him.

Since he did it when I was out shopping, being the only one of us who could shop without being kicked out of almost everywhere, I'm not sure how Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry really started. All I knew is that Naruto began measuring himself against Sasuke and began doing his absolute best to catch up to the top of the class.

Despite all of this, he could never match Sasuke's level.

It was when Naruto was twelve that it was time for the final exam to become Genin. Each person went in front of the class and was required to show some degree of mastery over the three Basic Techniques: Bunshin (Clone), Henge (Transformation), and Kawarimi (Replacement).

I had the three down, mostly. Enough to have a passing grade at least. It was Naruto that I really worried about. He had the Henge down pat, (his legendary Sexy Jutsu being deadly proof of that). And he was good enough with Kawarimi to pass without too much effort.

It's just that troublesome Bunshin technique. No matter how much Naruto tried, his clones always were utterly useless and/or nothing like him. Nothing I suggested helped him create a functioning clone. It was ridiculous how his signature technique in the anime, that was much more difficult than this version, was stumping him.

I prayed that Naruto would pull it together enough to pass the test.

The instructors had us all sitting in the classroom and we were all waiting silently until our names were called. It was about midway through the list, that I heard, "Jazeda!"

I took a deep breath and said to Naruto, "I'll meet you back home afterwards. Good or bad."

He nodded and said, "good luck."

"You too."

I entered the designated room and saw five different instructors sitting behind a large desk.

"Ah, Jazeda. Let's get started," Iruka sensei said and I smiled nervously at him.

"First off, the Bunshin. Please execute this jutsu to the best of your ability."

I nodded and put my hands in the correct hand sign for focusing my chakra. Once I did this, I pushed my chakra through and a clone materialized next to me in a burst of chakra smoke.

They took a closer look and one said, "the edges are a little blurry. But aside from that, passable." The rest agreed with the one who said that and I continued the test. I successfully performed the Henge and the Kawarimi good enough to pass.

Iruka had a proud look on his face as he handed me my headband with the Konoha leaf symbol on it. I couldn't suppress my own pride as I put it around my head and examined myself in a nearby mirror.

A few strands of my black hair covered the headband, but the Konoha leaf symbol was still easily visible. I took a moment to took at all of me. I was a little taller than Naruto. I had on a grey short sleeve shirt that had black swirls covering its surface and long black pants with a single stripe of orange running down the back of each leg. My skin was about the same tan color as about everyone's in Konoha. While I wasn't that good looking, I wasn't bad looking at all.

"Thanks, Iruka sensei!", I said as I admired myself a little longer.

"Well, you've earned it, Jazeda. But let me remind you, becoming a Genin is only the beginning stage of becoming a ninja. It's going to be a lot of hard work from here on out."

I groaned and dramatically said, "Ugh, work. Why must you be so cruel sensei?"

Iruka smirked and said, "well if you don't care much for work," he began reaching for my head, "maybe I should take that back-"

I quickly jumped back and grabbed the headband protectively.

"No need for that, sensei. I'll just be on my way home now!" I easily dodged his half-hearted attempts to grab my headband and began running home.

I slowed down about halfway there to allow myself to think a little easier.

I knew that, in the anime, Naruto was supposed to fail the exam. Afterwards, I remembered that Mizuki tricked Naruto into stealing the forbidden scroll and Naruto learned his signature Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu).

I also remembered that Mizuki revealed the S-class secret that Naruto held the Nine Tailed Fox spirit in his body. I was really worried about how Naruto would change upon hearing this. I forgot how he had reacted in the anime, and because of this, I didn't know how to prepare aside from ramen and offering an open ear.

After arriving home, I put out the makings for ramen with a side dish of steamed potatoes. While I managed to keep Naruto from eating ramen 24/7, I always made sure he would supplement his ramen with a side dish when we were home. It wasn't healthy for a kid to eat ramen all the time, but I did what I could.

After preparing the food, I grabbed a book I had borrowed from the library that was based on Fuinjutsu and began reading it while relaxing in the living room. While I considered Fuinjutsu extremely interesting and useful, I knew I would probably only ever learn enough to be considered competent in that area.

I had tried my hand at copying a few minor seals and found that I could copy them quite easily. After testing whether or not they succeeded in sealing an assortment of weapons, I would then put a certain number of different kinds of weapons in the scroll and put a little tag on the outside that said what was inside. Naruto had tried a few times at Fuinjutsu, but we both agreed to never speak of those attempts. Ever. (I'm not even sure how it exploded. There wasn't anything on the scroll that would cause heat!)

Well, I wasted time reading and copying a few more seals. The thing about sealing, it's pretty time consuming unless you're a master. So it was getting dark before I knew it.

It was about the time I was putting the finishing touches on a generic explosive tag that I heard the alarms I had been expecting. I listened and translated the pitch and frequency in my head.

"_High Alert. Repeat. High Alert. Jounin and ANBU report to Hokage tower._"

They had forced us to memorize all the different kinds of alarms and code words that the village used in times of emergency, so I was able to figure out what the alarm meant very quickly.

It was almost an hour later before the All Clear signal was given. Ten minutes after that, the door opened and I looked up to see Naruto walk in with a weirdly serious expression on his face. I stood up and said in a joking manner, "good to see you home. Do you know what that high alert alarm was for?"

While I knew the answer, I had to act clueless.

Before he could answer, I noticed the headband he wore and said, "awesome! You managed to pass!"

Naruto's seriousness vanished and he smiled as he tapped his new headband and said, "yeah- well, I didn't pass. But I did get to become a ninja after- well," his face fell and he looked at the floor guiltily, "sorry. But I'm not allowed to tell anyone."

I made my face show a little surprise, but clapped him on the shoulder and said, "doesn't matter. You passed! Now let's eat. I'm hungry."

He seemed a little surprised by my lack of prodding for answers, but eagerly helped me begin cooking the food.

As we were eating, Naruto finally said, "oh yeah! I managed to learn a super awesome jutsu! Wanna see?"

I gave him a look and said, "it's nothing like your Sexy Jutsu, is it?"

Naruto spluttered and said, "no! It's a real jutsu, though my Sexy Jutsu is as real as any other jutsu, but this is really cool. Just watch!" He put his hands in his signature cross handsign and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

After a large burst of chakra smoke, an exact clone of Naruto appeared next to the real one.

Both the Naruto's grinned at me and said at the same time, "cool, right?"

I grinned and said, "wow. And the clone is real as well. That's impressive."

The Naruto's frowned and the clone dispersed.

"How did you know that? I didn't even show you that they are real."

I smiled and said, "a little birdy told me." I managed to keep myself from showing everything I knew about the Narutoverse by occasionally revealing little tidbits of information that I have no way of knowing about.

"Someday I'm going to find that bird and wring its neck," Naruto muttered under his breath and I laughed.

As we were cleaning up, I noticed that Naruto was strangely silent.

Before I was able to break the silence, Naruto spoke up in a low tone.

"Jazeda?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think about me? I mean, really think?"

I paused, surprised at his vulnerable tone, before I said, "I think you're probably the best possible friend and comrade a person could possibly have. And I don't give a crap what others say or think about you."

"But what if-"

"But nothing!", I said loudly and with passion, "you are Naruto Uzumaki. My best friend and brother! I don't care if Kami has a grudge against you. I'll stand with you until you don't need my help any longer!"

Naruto had tears in his eyes and I realized I did as well.

We both awkwardly wiped our tears and I said, "why am I getting so emotional over such a little question? Ah, never mind. It's late. And we get our Jounin sensei assigned to us tomorrow. So we need to get our rest."

Naruto agreed with a nod and we cleaned up and went to bed without exchanging another word.

* * *

><p>So here's another chapter. This one is about 2000 words longer than the first chapter. This one took a few days to write up, so maybe it will be of better quality than that of the first chapter. Or maybe it sucks. I don't know. Please review and tell me what you think, what I need to improve on, suggestions, whatever. Just leave it in a review or send a PM. Though it's pretty late when I post this, so I'll be cutting this short. Have a good morningday/evening/whatever. :)


	3. I'm a Ninja

Naruto's Companion chap 3

Glad to say this fic isn't dead :). Sorry for taking so long. Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 3

I'm a ninja

* * *

><p>We woke to the ever familiar ringing alarm of our alarm clock and I restrained myself, just barely, from crushing the infernal machine that tore me from my beloved sleep. Instead, I hit the Off button and groaned.<p>

"Jazeda! C'mon!", Naruto was already standing by my bed, dressed in his orange attire that he wore in the anime. The only difference was that it was not raggedy. I had bought it when I was not with Naruto, like I did for all our stuff, from a store that was going to throw out an entire stock of predominantly orange clothing. I bought it, because I knew that his favorite color was orange, and he wore the same style about every day. While most places knew that me and Naruto lived together, and therefore was around the "demon-brat" all the time, most places tended to ignore that and sell to me. The only reason most store's didn't sell to him was because they would lose business. Though some didn't sell to him due to their idiotic prejudice. That occasionally extended to me, but not often.

I took a deep breath before I leapt out of my bed and got dressed for the day.

I smelled something familiar, something that I had to help clean off a great many times when Naruto got a little too happy with his graffiti based pranks.

"We're not painting our faces for the photo ID, Naruto," I said without actually turning around and I felt Naruto droop in disappointment.

"But whyyyy?"

I turned to see him with three separate buckets of paint and some brushes already prepared.

"Because do you really want somebody researching the great Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, and finding that embarrassing picture as how their great leader started his ninja career?"

Naruto froze and said, "err, right. Wouldn't want Genin getting the wrong message about me."

He kind of already did that by becoming the Prankster King, but I wasn't about to bring that up.

Instead I nodded. "Yeah. Now are you ready to go? I want to get there early. Even though our Jounin is going to be a few hours late."

Naruto's face twisted in confusion and said, "What makes you say that?"

I smiled my signature, "a little birdy told me," smile and said, "a-"

"I'm going to kill that bird, if I can ever find it!", Naruto yelled with a clenched fist and I chuckled.

We got ready and ate some dango on our way to the Academy. We were, per usual, the first to arrive in class.

Iruka looked up from a paper he had been reading as we walked in and smiled as he said, "I see you're still taking Naruto's punishment seriously. Punctual every day even up until the last. Good job, Jazeda."

I smiled and nodded to him as we went to our seats. I relaxed and read some more on Fuinjutsu while Naruto went to sleep. The rest of the class trickled in and it was about half an hour later that everyone was seated and Iruka caught our attention.

Once the room fell silent, he coughed and said, "congratulations everyone here. You have begun your career as a Ninja of Konoha. As you all know, you are going to be assigned to a team that will consist of three Genin and one Jounin instructor. Most teams will consist of two males and one female. But this year, due to an unbalanced amount of guys and girls, one team will be fully male. Listen closely for your name-", he then began to assign everyone to their respective teams. I noticed that Sakura was put with two other "no names" on Team 1, so that left the spot on Team 7 wide open.

"-Team Seven. Naruto Uzumaki, Jazeda," Naruto began cheering quietly, "and Sasuke Uchiha," cue Naruto freezing and protesting loudly.

To end his loud protests, I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "relax, Naruto. This just means you can keep a closer eye on him so you can know how you can get better than him."

Naruto frowned at my logic, but sat down and fell into a brooding silence. (Oh great, two brooding teammates. I thought, for a second, that asking the Hokage the night before to put me on Team 7 was a mistake. But got over it quickly.)

When Iruka finished, I saw that all the teams were the same as in the anime. Well, with the exception of Team 7, of course.

"Your Jounin instructors should be here pretty soon to pick you up and introduce themselves."

Soon after Iruka said that, different Jounin began taking their respective Genin out of the classroom until only Team 7 and Iruka was left in the room.

Iruka looked at a clock in a worried manner after almost an hour and a half passing and said, "he'll probably be here soon. But I need to go. Would you three wait here for him?"

I waved my hand and said, "no problem sensei. He going to be here soon enough."

Iruka gave me a weird look, but shrugged it off and rushed out of the room.

Fifteen minutes later, and one pissed off Naruto, the door opened and Naruto shot up with a, "finally!"

Kakashi looked pretty harmless, truth be told. His white hair and smiling eyes- er, eye, made him seem like someone who probably cracked a lot of jokes as often as possible. His mask covered the lower portion of his face and I wondered idly if we would ever get to see what was under the mask. His headband covered the famous Sharingan that he was given to him by his comrade, Obito Uchiha. His slouch, his tardiness, and everything about him spoke of his lack of caring about what we thought about him.

After looking at us for a moment, he said, "sorry I'm late. I got lost on the road of life."

While Sasuke looked and Naruto gaped, I smiled and said, "I know right! It's so full of twists and turns."

They looked at me and Kakashi said, "my first impression of you three... I don't like you."

I grinned harder as he said this and he gave me an odd look at my reaction.

After a second of his silent observation, he said, "meet me up on the roof," and disappeared in small puff of smoke.

I sealed my book back into a small scroll I kept in my pocket before following Naruto and Sasuke to the roof, using the more mundane method of stairs.

When we got up there, Kakashi waved for us to sit.

"Okay, how about we introduce ourselves. Tell us your name, hopes for the future, what you like, what you dislike, hobbies, dreams, whatever. You," he pointed at Sasuke, "go first."

Sasuke looked like he was about to blow Kakashi off and stay silent, but he eventually said, "Sasuke Uchiha. I don't care for anything. I hate a great many things. And my dream is to kill a certain person and restore the Uchiha clan to its glory."

Once he fell silent, Kakashi pointed at me.

"Jazeda. I hope to serve Konoha and bring respect to our village. I like reading, Fuinjutsu, and," I gave a wry grin, "surprising people. I dislike those who judge people under unfair circumstances. My hobbies include training and relaxing with a good book. My dream is to become Hokage. And if I can't achieve that, then to be the best dang advisor possible to the future Hokage." I gave Naruto a light punch on his arm to make it clear who I thought the next Hokage would be.

Kakashi nodded then looked at Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki! Better remember it cause I'm the future Hokage! I like training, ramen, and hanging out with Jazeda. I dislike the time it takes for ramen to cook and what happens after I get caught after pranking. My dream is to become the Hokage! Believe it!"

Once Naruto stopped, Kakashi smiled, (you can tell cause his eye "smiles"), and said, "well, you three are certainly diverse."

"What about you? You haven't told us anything about yourself?", I said with a straight face, wondering if this universe would be just like the anime.

"Oh. So I didn't. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I enjoy some things. My hobbies, you're too young to know about. And I have some hope."

Yup. Practically spot on.

Naruto's eye twitched and he yelled, "all we learned about you was your name!"

I smiled and said, "relax Naruto. Just give me a second."

Time for one of those moments.

I put my hands behind my back and made a few random hand seals before putting two fingers from my left hand over my closed left eye and staring at Kakashi. I made my chakra flare inside my body, to make it seem like I did some sort of jutsu, then said, "Kakashi Hatake. The Copycat Ninja. Has copied over 1000 jutsu with the use of an eye transplant from a comrade in the last Shinobi War. One fully original jutsu. An assassination technique. Graduated the Academy early. Was once a part of the ANBU, but left. Main hobby, reading his favorite series, Icha Icha. And I think that's about enough of that." I let my chakra return to normal and removed my fingers from my closed eye.

Kakashi looked surprised for the first time, and said, "how do you know all that? You shouldn't have even known who would be your Jounin instructor until I came to get you. And some information you have you can not find in public records."

I smiled and said, "but that would be no fun. Just try and figure it out. And I'll go ahead and tell you, your eye is not going to help you."

Kakashi blinked then smiled.

"Well I see this Team is certainly interesting. Each of you have your own talents and strengths. Now, tomorrow we are going to go on our very first mission. Meet me at training ground 7 at 7:00 AM. I recommend not eating any breakfast. You'll probably just throw it back up." He then vanished in a puff of smoke and both of my teammates turned to me.

"How did you learn all of that information about him," Sasuke asks me with a minor glare.

I shrugged.

"I pick up on things here and there. Also, I would recommend eating breakfast. Otherwise you'll be too hungry to survive his bell test."

"Bell test?", Naruto asked.

I shook my finger with a smile and said, "spoilers. You'll find out tomorrow. Now, let's go train. I want to show you something I learned."

Naruto nodded and followed me as I began running across the roofs to where we normally trained. We then spent a good portion of the day trying out and testing the various explosive tags I had made over the last few days. Once our supply was depleted, and Naruto was thoroughly giddy from making stuff explode, we stopped and went home to some sleep for our mission the next day.

* * *

><p>We woke up, again to that thrice Kami-cursed alarm clock, and left after eating a small breakfast. I made sure to pack plenty of scrolls that contained a lot of weapons and different items. (I also checked Naruto's bag, to make sure he had the necessities. And to my surprise, he had everything I suggested for him to take.)<p>

I told Naruto that I would meet him there after I took care of something vitally important to our upcoming mission. He gave me a strange look before heading off to our assigned training ground without a word.

I was surprised at how easy it was to Henge into a random adult and walk into the adult section of the bookstore. I managed to secure a copy of the most recent Icha Icha book and learned that it had come in only about two hours earlier. I bought the book and quickly made my way to the training ground, arriving about twenty minutes late.

Naruto was leaning against a tree, looking worried, and Sasuke was sitting on the ground, looking annoyed.

I jumped to the ground out of the tree I had been in and said, "hey, sorry I'm late."

Naruto looked relieved and asked, "what took so long?"

I smiled and said, "oh just grabbing the key to our success." I tapped my hip pouch to indicate I had it with me.

Sasuke spoke up with, "and what exactly is our key?"

I smiled, and with as much dramatic flare as I was able to summon, I produced the book from my pouch and said, "this, my teammates, is the ticket to taking our beloved Jounin sensei down to our level."

Naruto looked at it and said, "a book? Does it have some secret techniques in it or something?"

I smiled and said, "well it has... stuff in it. But you're too young to read about it. I'm just going to read enough of it to make it so he won't call my bluff."

"Well that's smart- Hey! We're the same age!"

"Just trust me, Naruto," I said with a smile before sitting down with my back to a tree and opening the book in the middle.

After about ten minutes of reading, and having to hold back a blush from the contents I didn't manage to skip over, I heard a loud rumbling sound and looked up at Sasuke.

"You didn't eat anything, did you?", I said, already knowing the answer.

He scoweled and said, "he said not to eat. Why wouldn't I listen to you before taking his advice?"

I put the book down, with a finger holding my page, and said, "because I'm your comrade. And we're not officially ninja just yet. Every Jounin instructor can choose to test their students to see if they are ready to be ninja. If we fail, then we'll be sent back to the Academy in disgrace. Now eat this," I fished out a few energy bars out of my pocket and threw them over to him, "you're no use to this team if you're too hungry to move properly."

Sasuke caught the offered bars, and his rumbling stomach cut off his protests before he could even start. He bit into one and soon the rest followed.

I had gone back to the book and barely heard his muttered, "thanks,". I nodded to indicate that I heard him and focused back on the book.

* * *

><p>About two and a half hours later, Kakashi appeared in a burst of chakra smoke in a tree while making a peace sign and said, "yo."<p>

Naruto sprung from the ground and said, "you're late!" I used the opportunity to hide the book before Kakashi could see it.

Kakashi smiled and said, "sorry. I stopped to help an old lady who turned out to be an S-class missing-nin and I had to fight her to the death."

Naruto pointed his finger at him and screamed, "Liar!"

Kakashi just jumped down and said, "anyways. Let's start your mission," he produced two small bells from his pouch and held them up for us to see.

"This is going to be a survival exercise. Your objective is to get these bells from me when I say Go. Whoever fails to have a bell by the time this timer hits zero, will be tied to those poles over there and forced to watch me eat my lunch. Oh, and you will be sent back to the Academy. Did I mention that?"

Kakashi waited for a moment, probably expecting looks of horror or loud protests from us. He instead got blank stares from all three of us and I could see a large sweatdrop form at the side of his head.

"What? No reaction?"

I smirked and said, "already told them. You can go ahead and start now." And I had told them a little more. Just enough to make it so they would deprive Kakashi of his amusement when they saw that there were only two bells, they wouldn't freak out.

His only physical sign of surprise was his one eye opening slightly. He then attached the two bells to his belt and Naruto rushed forward to try and snatch the bells from him before he could react. Keyword being try.

Kakashi allowed Naruto to take two steps forward before his body flickered and Naruto suddenly had a kunai held against his throat while Kakashi was a step behind him and facing us.

"I haven't said Go yet. No need to be so impatient."

Kakashi removed his kunai from Naruto's throat, revealing a thin cut that was already healed, and said, "you better attack me with the intent to kill. Otherwise your hands will never get within a foot of these bells. Now, you three, Go."

When he gave the signal, I yelled, "scatter!", and the three of us got out of the clearing immediately and hid in the trees and surrounding underbrush.

Kakashi tilted his head and said, out loud, "hiding to buy time against a stronger opponent. Very smart."

He reached into his pouch and I tensed, ready to jump away if a rain of sharp objects came flying my way. He instead pulled out his book and I relaxed a little as I tried to read the title. I held in a shout of triumph when I saw that the book he held was the one before the book I had spent most of the morning studying. So unless he had read the whole book in five hours and was halfway done re-reading the book he currently had, he had not read the newest addition to the series.

I smiled and grabbed the newest book out of my pouch, only to pause when a certain orange clad Genin walked into the clearing, plain as day.

Kakashi actually looked up from his book at Naruto's... tactic?

"You're not that smart, are you?", Kakashi said to him as he scowled and I snorted.

Naruto pointed at Kakashi and proclaimed, "you take that back! Or better yet, I'll make you," he formed his cross hand seal, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

About thirty shadow clones appeared and rushed at Kakashi, who didn't even glance up from his book as he systematically forced every clone that ran at him to disperse using a variety of methods. Naruto himself joined in the fight (*cough cough* slaughter) and was sent flying into the woods by a kick to the chest.

A second later, a barrage of kunai and shuriken slammed into Kakashi from the side. I wasn't even slightly surprised when "Kakashi" suddenly became a log and the sound of someone getting hit (Sasuke) reached my ears.

I sighed when I realized that this exercise was about to go beyond my reach of success and decided it was time to enter the fight.

I walked into the middle of the clearing and looked up, to the left, and to the right, before quickly jumping away to avoid the hands that burst from the ground.

Kakashi brushed off some dirt and said, "very good, Jazeda. If they are not above or around you, they might be below you. Be very careful of that. It was rather stupid of you to walk in plain view of an enemy that is leagues ahead of you."

I nodded, accepting the criticism, before I smiled and said, "oh Kakashi. I can't help but notice that you have the "second" most recent book in that series."

Kakashi, who had his book back out again, looked up from it with a questioning look.

"Yes, it is. What about it? And aren't you a little young to enjoy this form of literature?"

My grin grew wider as I pulled out the book in my pouch and held it up in front of my face.

Kakashi's eye widened and he said, "how did you get that? You're too young!"

I tossed the book back and forth in my hands and said, "oh I didn't just buy this. I bought this, AND all the others in the store. You have no idea how much Ryo it took to bribe the store owner into stopping the supply for a few weeks. I have all the others hidden away somewhere with the instructions to be destroyed if I do not become a ninja. Oh, and look at this one, it's a super special edition that's been signed by yours truly," I turned the book over to reveal an explosive tag attached to the back.

Kakashi's eye widened further, in fear. "You wouldn't."

I leaned forward and said, "try me. Oh, and as an added bonus, I went ahead and read most of it," I shivered visibly, "and I will spoil the whole thing."

Kakashi fell to his knees and put his hands together, (with his book balanced on top), "please! No! Not the precious!" He had freaking tears waterfalling down from his one eye.

"Then throw me the bells," I put my finger on the explosive tag, "or the porn gets it."

Kakashi hesitated for a second before throwing the bells over to my feet.

I didn't grab them, instead I called out, "Naruto! Sasuke! Come and grab these! I don't want him to try anything when I go to get them." Kakashi's shoulders slumping told me that I had made the right choice getting them to grab the bells.

They both appeared from the forest and grabbed the two bells from the ground before backing up behind me.

I then placed the book on the ground and waved for them to back up as I did so.

As expected, Kakashi bounded forward and peeled the explosive tag off before holding the despicable piece of literature to his chest and rocking back and forth on the ground while making small sounds that I couldn't decipher.

The three of us sweatdropped at the sight and I cleared my throat before saying, "um, you can have that, sensei. So, are we done now?"

Kakashi, after whispering a few more words to his new book, stood and said, "yes, this exercise is over. Now, who's going back to the Academy? I see only two Genin holding bells. Who's it going to be?" I nearly laughed at his attempt to regain his composure after the display a few seconds earlier, but held it in.

Sasuke gritted his teeth before tossing the bell he held to me and saying, "I did nothing to help get this. An Uchiha will never take charity from anyone. As much as it kills me to say it, you deserve this more than me."

Naruto looked at his bell guiltily and threw it to me.

"I didn't do anything either. I deserve to go back to the Academy as well."

I rolled my eyes and tossed a bell to each of them. I hadn't told them about the purpose of the exercise in hopes that they would figure it out on their own. Alas, it would not be so.

"Shut up you two. None of us are going back to the Academy. Isn't that right, Kakashi?"

Kakashi sighed and said, "you're correct, Jazeda. You all passed. Congratulations, you are all three now officially a part of Team Seven."

Naruto jumped in the air, yelling in delight, and Sasuke just gave a small grunt with maybe a slight upward curl of the mouth.

Kakashi let Naruto carry on for a few more seconds before he cleared his throat and I calmed him down enough to let Kakashi speak.

"You three did good. Although I think only Jazeda knows the real meaning behind this test, thanks to whatever he does to get information."

I stuck my tongue out at him before retracting it and saying, "teamwork, right? We were supposed to band together and work as a single unit to get those bells. But I kinda threw a wrench in your plan by taking counter-measures against you."

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, you are correct on all accounts. And, if you had somehow gotten the bells from me but ganged up to make one go back to the Academy, you would've all failed."

I nodded and said, "so if we followed your orders, we would have failed anyways. Only by sticking up for each other will we be strong."

Kakashi got a sad look in his eye before he said, "yeah. In the ninja world, those who break the rules and regulations are called trash. But a Shinobi who abandons his comrades is worse than trash. Sometimes, the mission can take a backburner to what is truly important. Remember that, and hope you made the right call after it's all over."

He fell into a contemplative silence and we stayed quiet in respect.

Then he clapped his hands together and said with his signature eye smile, "anyways. Good job, you three. Tomorrow we'll take our first real mission. Meet me on the bridge near the BBQ place at 8:00 AM."

He then disappeared, and I groaned.

"What's wrong?", Naruto asked me, confused at my reaction to our sensei's words.

I slumped and said, "the upcoming missions we'll be doing. They're gonna be sooooo boring."

Sasuke raised his eyebrow and I took it as a signal to explain.

"Kakashi is going to give us D-ranked missions. The bane of every beginning Genin. They're basically chores around the village. Oh, and whatever D-rank they offer, do NOT accept the one where we have to catch Tora the Cat!" (Yes, Tora deserves to have a title. Stupid Demon Cat.)

Naruto leaned away from me due to the intensity in my words and said, "oookaaay, we'll stay away from that mission. But are you sure about them just being chores? What about going and fighting missing ninja? Travelling to other nations? Rescuing princesses!?" His voice became more and more desperate sounding as he listed off more things, only for each thing to be shot down by my shaking head.

"Nope. All those are around B-ranks or higher. We don't have enough experience or the ability to take on those missions. We have to take quite a few D-ranks before we are even considered for a C-ranked mission. And C-ranks are usually escort missions with little chance of fighting other trained ninja." Unless you are a part of Team Seven, then you should expect to fight a freaking Jinchuuriki army on your first C-rank!

...okay, maybe not a Jinchuuriki army, but a S-class missing ninja at least.

Naruto groaned loudly and his whole body slumped to show his complete disappointment.

I patted him on his shoulder and said, "well, look at it this way. All the past Hokage started where we are now, with stupid D-ranks. But, instead of groaning about it, they did their jobs and eventually made their way to the position of Hokage."

He sighed before jumping up with his fist clenched and yelled, "then bring them on! Give me all of them if it gets me one step closer to Hokage!"

I could feel Sasuke's eyes rolling behind us, but he did not comment.

* * *

><p>A FEW WEEKS LATER<p>

"This sucks!"

I sighed, about at the end of my patience of Naruto's whining about the stupid D-ranks. I was surprised that Sasuke hadn't exploded yet from pure annoyance by now. As it was, I'm pretty sure his teeth should have been ground into dust by that point.

I picked, yet another, weed out of the garden before locating and repeating the action for the hundredth time.

I had made sure that he knew the difference in the weeds and the herbs before we started picking. The last D-rank we had done, he had lost his share of the pay because he accidentally picked all of the growing fruit producing plants along with the weeds.

"C'mon Naruto, we all have to do our share around here," Kakashi said as he turned another page in his newest book while sitting under a shady tree.

I grinded my teeth and said, "and aren't you supposed to be helping us, dear sensei?"

He looked away from the book, gave us an eye smile, then turned back to it, not even giving us an answer.

I sighed before returning my attention to the weeds before me and silently wishing that I had Naruto's ability to create clones.

I then froze and resisted the urge to punch myself. Why didn't I think of that before!?

"Oi Naruto! You wanna speed things up by creating about ten or so clones?"

They all froze with different expressions. Sasuke just blinked. Naruto facepalmed. And Kakashi looked away from his book with a wide eye that was full of dread. (Yes Kaka-sensei! Feel fear! Mwahahaha!)

Naruto then grinned, formed his cross hand seal, and said, "sure thing, Jazeda! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

He actually created around twenty, and due to the space the clones took up, I suggested that we take a break and let the clones do the work for "awhile".

Naruto eagerly relaxed on the ground and Sasuke sat beneath a tree, somewhat hesitantly. Probably because he didn't want someone else doing his job, no matter how menial it was. I made a mental note to try and tone down his "clan superiority complex" just a little.

I saw a look in Kakashi's eye and said, "ah ah ah, don't you complain. The work is still getting done. Does it really matter how the tree fell as long as you have the wood to burn?"

Kakashi sighed before closing his book and standing up.

"Well if you three are just going to relax, I might as well try to teach you something. It hurts to see such great potential just sit around."

"You're one to talk, sensei," I said with a deadpan look and he waved his hand.

"Anyways. I've got something that aught to keep you pretty busy for awhile. Observe."

He walked over to a tree, and without stopping, began to walk up the side of it and then walked along a branch until he was looking down on us.

"Tree walking? Isn't that pretty advanced for Genin who have only been ninja for a few weeks?" Even as I said this, I was bubbling with excitement. I couldn't wait to begin!

Kakashi shrugged and walked back down to where we stood.

"Well it is going to probably take a few weeks of training before you are really going to be able to do it with any real thought put into it. Let's put it this way, when you stop seeing the difference between fighting here on the ground, and vertically on that tree, you have basically mastered tree walking."

I saw Naruto about to explode with excitement, so I quickly said, "so how exactly do we begin?"

Kakashi looked at me and said, "why don't you know something that simple?"

I rubbed the back of my head and said, "hey, it comes to me when it comes to me. I don't know everything. If I did, I wouldn't be a Genin."

Kakashi rolled his eye and said, "alright, listen up-"

"Excuse me," we all turned to see the woman who hired us standing there, "I believe you're all done now."

We looked beyond the woman to see a decent sized pile of weeds off to the side with the clones standing beside it. They then dispersed and we went and reported the finished mission, got our pay, and went to training field 7. Kakashi then proceeded to give us a vague lesson on how to tree-walk and then disappeared off to who knows where.

Armed with this tiny bit of knowledge, all three of us grabbed kunai and began trying to climb the trees using only our chakra.

It took almost a full hour before I was able to get about halfway up the 40 foot tree with a running start. Any further, and I couldn't help but forcing too much chakra into the tree and causing it to explode under my foot.

It was still much better than what Naruto and Sasuke were able to do. Sasuke's chakra reserves were a little bigger than mine, so it was a little easier for me to control it than it was for him.

And don't even get me started on Naruto's control. With his, literally, inhuman chakra reserves, his control was horrendous. The only reason he was able to keep up with Sasuke in any amount was through his sheer force of will.

"How are you able to get so high!?", Naruto finally asked after falling back to earth yet again after only going up about 12 feet up.

Sasuke landed a few seconds later and I saw that he was about 14 feet up the tree. He looked over at me after hearing Naruto ask and waited for my answer.

"It has to do with your chakra output. Sasuke. Since you have bigger chakra reserves than me, you'll have a little harder time with techniques that require fine chakra control since you have more to use. Those with smaller reserves have better control naturally because they have to preserve the tiny amount they have for as long as possible."

I turned to Naruto and said, "due to you having extremely large reserves, you will have a very hard time with techniques that require precision," I saw his face fall at this and added, "but at least you will be able to do techniques that are very chakra demanding. Just look at your Shadow Clone Jutsu. Just making one would probably leave me near empty."

At Naruto's shocked look, I nodded and finished with, "just remember that not all seemingly bad things come only with drawbacks. With the bad, there is almost always some good along with it. You just have to find it." I ended with a serious look and Naruto got a worried expression at my words, but nodded his understanding.

I tried helping them improve by giving advice over a few hours time. Slowly, we each improved. Getting a few inches higher up the tree each attempt. Sometimes jumping by a foot. Right before I reached my limit, I managed to shove my kunai into the very top of the tree before I allowed gravity to pull me down back to earth and I landed semi-gracefully.

I sat down to allow myself a little rest. I was breathing pretty hard from training non-stop for the last few hours and my chakra levels were just about empty. My whole body was beginning to ache from the repeated impacts from falling from great heights. Somehow, even though they were beginning to lag a little, Naruto and Sasuke were still keeping up the same amount of effort they had been giving when we began.

I looked at how they were doing and smiled when I saw that they were obviously competing against one another. Each time one of them got a few inches higher than the others last attempt, he would grit his teeth and run up the tree with renewed vigor until he got a little higher than before.

I just sat and watched them progress more and more until they both ran up their trees at the same time and managed to bury their kunai into the top of the tree at the same time.

"Ah ha!," Naruto yelled triumphantly before landing and doing a little victory dance to celebrate.

"Oi, baki. There's no reason to celebrate. You were still slower than me."

Naruto froze in his dance and said, "no way! I totally got to the top a few second before you!", He turned to me, "right?"

I held up my hands and said, "I don't know. I was too far away to tell. But who cares? You can figure out who's better tomorrow. It's getting late and I'm nearly out of chakra. Not to mention hungry."

They both looked up and only then seemed to realize how late it was getting. Then, both of their stomachs grumbled at the same time and I laughed.

"Yeah, let's get some ramen to celebrate learning a new technique!", Naruto said with a wide grin.

"You just want to eat ramen," I said with a grin and Naruto nodded shamelessly.

I rolled my eyes and noticed that Sasuke was walking away.

Going on a whim, I called out, "hey Sasuke! Come eat with us. Otherwise, you're going to get mobbed by a bunch of fangirls about halfway to your house."

I made sure to force his decision by making use of my powers of seeing the future. (Or at least, pretending I could see the future. He didn't know the difference.)

"They're going to be extra insistent today," I added and he finally stopped.

"Aww, Jazeda! Why invite him along?", Naruto whined and I flicked him in the side of the head. I saw Sasuke seem to flinch at the sight and I nearly hit myself when I remembered that Itachi had flicked him in his head when Sasuke was little.

"Because he's our teammate, Naruto. You would invite Sakura along if she was our teammate."

Naruto rubbed the spot I had flicked and grumbled, "yeah, but that's different."

I rolled my eyes and said, "yeah. Cause you like her. Even though she constantly hits you and is mean towards you."

Yes, Naruto still had that stupid crush on Sakura. And yes, she was totally abusive. I did my best to steer him away from her, but he never totally gave up on her.

Before he could defend her, I turned back to Sasuke and said, "so how about it? I'll pay?"

He finally answered with, "I'll pay for my own food. Where's the place?"

* * *

><p>And this chapter comes to an end. Sorry for taking so long with it. I've just been busy with my other fics and life in general. But at least this chapter is 2000 or so more words than the last. Please review and tell me if there's anything wrong, how you think of the chapter, whatever.<p> 


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